Sports

2010 Olympic Torch or Big Fat Joint?

by Jon Azpiri | February 13, 2009 at 09:55 am

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Is it by accident or design that the 2010 Olympic torch for the Winter Games in Vancouver looks like a joint? When organizers unveiled the 2010 Vancouver Olympic torch people in BC immediately commented that it looked just like a giant doobie.

See a picture of the 2010 Olympic Torch and decide for yourself.

The new Olympic torch seems to be something of a Rorshach test. It's odd white shape makes people see different things: some say it looks like an airplane propeller, others say it looks like an icicle. The most common reaction, however, is that it looks like a big marijuana joint.

It’s Spring 2009 and already the 2010 Winter Olympics are a cause for sensation and controversy. The mini-scandal of the day? The 2010 Olympic Torch or — as some are already referring to it as — the 2010 Olympic Toke. This oh-so-clever entendre of course refers to the observation, now made by many, that the official 2010 Olympic Torch sorta-kinda looks like a joint. And you know what, I sorta-kinda have to agree.

Maybe it's the Michael Phelps scandal, maybe it's the fact that Vancouver is a marijuana haven often referred to as "Vansterdam", or maybe it's the paranoia that sets in from smoking too much weed, but many think that the 2010 Olympic torch looks like a joint, especially when lit up.

Bombardier industrial designer Timothy Fagan said the look emulates drifted snow and is inspired by “the curved lines left by a skiers going down a hill or blades on ice.”

Some in the Whistler crowd compared it to an icicle. Others said it bore an uncanny resemblance to a marijuana cigarette.

The fine folks at Deadspin featured a post entitled "Hey, Don't Bogart the Olympic Torch, Man" and ended with this line.